


Wicked Ones: Letters and Journals

by Adora Addams (Apollymi), Katsuko



Series: Wicked Ones [3]
Category: The Magnificent Seven (2016)
Genre: Letters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-27
Updated: 2017-04-01
Packaged: 2018-09-27 07:11:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9982301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Apollymi/pseuds/Adora%20Addams, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katsuko/pseuds/Katsuko
Summary: There were some requests for the letters and journals mentioned inWicked Ones.  Seeing as how Katsuko and I have already written most of them, we decided sharing them sounded like a good idea. As they are referenced or become important, they will be posted.





	1. Carson City Letter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will be links to the letters in PDF format with correct handwriting in each chapter. For Joshua, I've chosen the [Saucy Jack](http://www.1001fonts.com/saucy-jack-font.html) font (with [Mistral](http://ttfonts.net/font/1004_Mistral.htm) for special characters).
> 
> There is method to my madness regarding all the things that have been scratched out.

_Goody,_

_I hope this letter finds you well. I suppose I am. It’s_ ~~ _deen_ ~~ _been a few months since my last letter. Not sure how many. It was spring or summer last time, and now it ain't long before winter_ _sits_ _sets in._

_I brought in a couple of interesting bounties in these months. Biggest one was only $150, but it got me a new gun and plenty of ammo. Let me spoil Jack a bit too. He still won't let me buy him a new set of tack, but I did manage to_ ~~ _pursuede_ ~~ _persuade him to accept a new blanket. It was a trying couple of weeks, but he's letting me use it on him now. That'll be a good thing when winter gets here. His old one was getting a bit_ ~~_threddare_ _thredbear_~~ _ratty._

_Guess my spelling is still pretty bad, isn't it? Maman would be so disappointed. Probably Colette more. She always got madder than hell when I screwed up something simple. Always tried to tell it didn't look right and some of those letters all look the same, but I don't think she ever got that. You used to get it, Goody. I miss that._

_I miss how we used to be. I miss how close we used to be and how we used to talk. I miss how we used to be_ _able_ _to talk. I hate how we haven’t been able to do that for years. I miss talking to you, my brother._

_One of the bounties I chased_ ~~ _bowm_ ~~ _down was just to pay back the_ ~~ _ferrier_ ~~ _farrier for reshoeing Jack. You'd have laughed at this guy, Goody. He was so busy trying to get away that he fell over a cliff and broke his own damn neck. Almost felt bad taking him in for the money. Still did it though. Easiest $50 I've ever made._

_I'm going to be heading_ ~~ _pack_ ~~ _back to Carson City soon. Summer was harsh this year, and some of the old timers are talking about it being a hard winter this year. They said the same thing last year, but I don’t know. Seems like maybe this year it will be. I’ve got enough stashed back now to ride out the winter, so I’ll probably stay there until Spring, barring any kind of emergencies._

_I got one last bounty to collect on before I go_ ~~ _pack_ ~~ _back_ ~~ _home_ ~~ _to Carson City. The guy runs alone, so it shouldn’t be too hard. I won’t mention what he’s done to get a bounty on him. I don’t like thinking about it. It was bad, though, Goody, bad enough that I need to take him out before he can do it to anyone else._

~~ _If you want to meet me, I’ll_ ~~

_I can’t ask you to come join me in Carson City. I want to, but I can’t. I’ve done too much that I regret, not in the least of which being how we parted ways. I said so much that I regret back then. When I think about what I called you back then, I could kick myself._ ~~ _I could do worse than that_ ~~ _~~.~~ I wasn’t thinking. I’d go so far as to say I was stupid._

~~_I can’t write any more._~~ ~~_This is_~~ ~~_Goody, I_~~

_I’m stopping here, Goody. This is so much harder than I thought it would be._

_Take care of yourself, Goody. Know that I miss you and that I think of you often. I would like to see you again, but I’m not going to ask you to come here. If you decide to, I should be arriving in early October. No later than the middle of the month unless something changes._ ~~ _I hope nothing changes._ ~~

_Your loving brother,_

_T-Jo_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [The PDF version of the Carson City letter can be found here.](https://www.dropbox.com/s/kxv8kscy2nigsd6/Carson%20City%20Letter.pdf?dl=0)
> 
>  
> 
> I'm not sure where I developed my headcanon of Faraday being a little dyslexic. It came about somewhere between the fanon that he can't read and the deleted scene where he mentions reading books about Jack Horne. And given that this is a Joshua Faraday who was raised in a well-to-do Cajun/Creole household, it just seemed to make sense. Bearing in mind, of course, that this would have been written in French, of course.


	2. Amador City Letter

~~ _Goodnight,_ ~~ _Goody,_

_I honestly don’t know how your Billy can keep just—sending letters out into the void the way he does, but I’ve gotten one every three or four months for years now. I almost feel like I ain’t trying, sending only one a year now, but I can’t keep it up. This is going to be the last one, and I hope that it finds you well._

_I think my last letter I told you about some of the bounties I’ve been tracking_ ~~ _since we parted ways_ ~~ _since what happened. Ain’t much changed there. I spent the last few months trying to track_ ~~ _bown_ ~~ _down a murderer by the name of Eli Joe. He killed a few guys down Texas way and framed up a bounty hunter for it, at least from what I can tell. Can’t get anyone to give me a clear answer, of course._ ~~ _Folks don’t want to admit to a mistake. I know the feeling._ ~~ _The judge and the sheriff down there didn’t want to admit to having screwed up, but they put out a warrant for Eli Joe quiet as can be._

_Everything I heard said Eli Joe traveled with a group,_ ~~ _tow_ ~~ _two or three other guys. When I caught up with them in Arizona, it was a bigger group than that. A lot bigger: at least five guys. It wasn’t exactly what I’d call a fair fight, but obviously I got out with most of my skin intact. Still a bit sore from the beating I got, but I like to think I gave as good as I got. Jack helped. I managed to take two of them down. One of the guys I managed to take down was known for taking advantage of ladies, even killing some of them; him, I took the ‘dead’ part of ‘dead or alive’ part of the bounty on. The other was a horse thief. He’d killed a rancher too, so when I turned the pair of them in, I got a little something for my trouble._ ~~ _That’s good at least, right?_ ~~

_I rested up a bit and then went up to Minnesota from there. Let me tell you, Goody: there are some greedy son of a bitches up there. I ended up having to shoot one bastard in the kneecap. I can’t find it in me to regret it. I don’t regret what I did up there either. I hope it helps you, Goody. I bought out your Billy’s bounty directly from the Northern Pacific Railroad. They tried to triple the amount, so I had to shoot that one guy. Just in the knee, though. Don’t worry. I think maybe I should have shot him in the other knee too. Maybe that way I wouldn’t have still had to pay more than double the amount. It was a lot of money, but I think it’s worth it if it helps you out, Goody. Maybe you and your Billy can stop_ ~~ _running_ ~~ _having to run all the time now._

_I’ve been living lean since then, and there ain’t_ ~~ _bene_ ~~ _been anything to spare for hotel rooms or nothing fancy_ ~~ _liek_ ~~ _like that. That’s all right: I’ve got Jack, and right now, he’s all I need. I've been keeping his feed up, of course, and he's been kicking all manner of critters to death for me. I’m certainly never going to Minnesota in winter again, though. I didn’t think I would ever thaw back out! How do people live up there?_

_And now, like they’re just trying to be contrary, I do believe every bastard with a warrant out for him is heading for open desert right now or maybe to places beyond the deserts. I think they’re just doing it to piss me off, Goody, and I don’t like it. I don’t mind the deserts so much these days, even if all those wide open places with no people are still a tad alarming, but Christ, it feels like it’s going to be a hot summer_ ~~ _and I_ ~~

~~ _Goody,_ ~~

_Is that all I’ve got to talk about? The weather and bounties?_

_Christ, Goody, sometimes I think I might be the most fucked up son of a bitch in the entire Western United States. Sometimes I think we both might be. We both lost our childhoods, first to that son of a bitch father of ours and then to the War, and it ain’t right, Goody. It ain’t. Sometimes, when it’s just me and Jack, I wonder if things would have different if we had both been older when the War started—or if we had both been younger. I think if we had both been younger, we could have avoided the War altogether. I think Colette would have taken care of us. I think_ Maman _might have found a way to send us both away._ ~~ _Boreding_~~ _Boarding school, maybe? Maybe they could have fixed my shitty spelling? Might have been a lost cause, if Nana Jolie and_ Maman _couldn’t manage it. If we had both been older? We could have taken off out here to the West years before the War even started. Maybe hidden out in Old Mexico or kept on going till we hit Brazil? I tried asking Jack, but he ain’t much for conversations, as you well know. God knows he tries, but for now, it's still in_ ~~ _vane_~~ _vain._

_Sometimes Brazil sounds really nice. I hear a man can make a killing down that way if he knows horseflesh. Stud Jack out a bit, enough to afford a ranch? Sounds nice. There are days I could get behind the idea of a horse ranch. It’d be a lot of work, but I think it’d be worth it. Given some time, I might even be able to turn enough of a profit to afford a good crate of Jameson down there. I know whiskey not to your tastes, Goody, but God knows it's mine. Sure as hell can’t afford a good Jameson here on bounty hunting and gambling. All I’ve got here is the cheap shit._

_God, Goody, I can’t even tell you how much of that cheap shit I’ve had to drink just to write this letter. It ain’t been pretty._

_I said it in the last letter, but I heard about Carson City. I hate that I missed you by less than a week. I hate that I missed you and all because I couldn't get moving fast enough. Bounty hunting alone is a tricky_ ~~ _bizness_~~ _business. I heard about the bastards_ ~~ _tring_~~ _trying to jump you guys for Rocks’ bounty. Once I got over being mad, that was when I made the decision to find a way to pay off the price on your Billy’s head. Maybe that way,_ ~~ _we can be_~~ ~~_I can prove I mean I want us to be brothers again_~~ ~~_you will forgive me_~~ _if we ever meet up again, we can both be free and clear. We can both decide where to go_ ~~ _and if we want to be the Robicheaux brothers again_~~ _._

_I know what I want, Goody. I want us to be close, like we used to be. I don’t know if that’ll ever happen._ ~~ _After_ ~~ _At least fifteen letters over eight years, Goody, and I’ve never heard back from you. I still get letters from your Billy like clockwork, but I’ve never heard back from you. I think maybe that means something. It’s something I don’t much want to think about, but it’s something._

~~ _Please tell me I'm wrong, Goody._ ~~

_I’m heading west again soon. There is a couple of bounties I’m looking to cash in on to make up for the ones I missed on Eli Joe and his friends. I’m going to have to track down this one, July Bully. Don’t know where he calls home. I know one of them, Powder Dan Harrison, is in Amador City. And I've heard tell there’s a Mexican up in the hills north of there who killed a Ranger. I think the three of those should make up for the money I would have made on Eli Joe and his posse. I know Amador City’s close to the place I’ve been sending these letters for you: Volcano Springs._ ~~ _If you want to meet with me_ ~~

_After that, though? I don’t know. I might go_ ~~ _back home_ ~~ _back to Carson City then to Missouri. Hell, maybe I’ll take Jack and hop a ship for Brazil. I don’t know._

_The point is, like I said, this is going to be my last letter. I miss you, Goody. I miss my brother. But I think I’m not wrong in thinking that either you don’t miss me or what happened in Carson City broke what trust you had in me—or the things I said eight years ago destroyed what we once had—or something else entirely. Either way, I think I’m not wrong in thinking that me keeping on trying to fix something that’s broken beyond repair is pointless and doing more harm than good at this junction. So, this is me, trying to do the right thing: one last attempt, and then that’ll be it. I won’t write again, and I won’t be expecting to get another letter from Rocks._

_So stay safe out there, my brother. I hope you have a good life—and if I find out your Billy ain’t treating you right, I might have to track him down and do something about it._

_Love you._

_T-Jo_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [The PDF version of the letter can be found here.](https://www.dropbox.com/s/ey4tsymzxzlae0e/Amador%20City%20Letter.pdf?dl=0)
> 
> Again the font used for Joshua's handwriting is [Saucy Jack](http://www.1001fonts.com/saucy-jack-font.html) with [Mistral](http://ttfonts.net/font/1004_Mistral.htm) for special characters.
> 
> Most of the requests for the journals and letters were in reference to the Carson City letter, but there were a few for this one: the letter Joshua wrote before leaving for Amador City, the one Billy received right before they left Volcano Springs. 
> 
> It's also the letter that launched two AUs: the Letter Verse, where this letter arrived three days earlier, and the Twins 'verse, that answers the question of what would have changed if the brothers were closer in age and younger when the War started.


	3. December 26, 1876

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to post these three journal entries at the same time as the chapter itself. Please accept them three (almost four hours) late?

_My dear T-Jo,_

_Today was better than yesterday, although not by terribly much. I’ve always loved the Christmas season, if only because even Monsieur Robicheaux was less of the sorry son of a bitch we both knew him to be. They were better after you came to St. Martinville, I can honestly say that._

_In a way, you were the best Christmas gift me and Letty and Maman ever got from the sorry bastard._

_But that’s neither here nor there. This Christmas, just like the past four, was horrific to get through._

_Honestly, if we even try to stay in one place for more than a few months, warrant officers and bounty hunters just come out of the goddamn woodwork. They’re like vicious little termites that someone gave a gun and/or a badge to and set out into the world. I hope to God that we were never that bad. I hope to God that you aren’t as bad as the rumors make you out to be._

_Because that man sounds too much like the man we grew up with, too much like the man I see when I look in a mirror and want to just cut my own throat so I don’t resemble him further._

_You likely won’t like hearing it, but I thank God for Billy every damn morning. Sometimes it feels like the only reason I don’t give up on living, that I don’t just lay down and die, is because he would somehow bring me back to life through some vaguely mystical eastern magic… and kill me for abandoning him._

_Because apparently that’s what I do now. I abandon people. I abandoned you, and I regret that every day of my life._

_I don’t know where you are, or how to find you, or even what I would say to you if we were face to face. I hope we wouldn’t fight again, but I know us—hell, T-Jo, the first thing I ever actually said to you was fighting words. Not that you didn’t already know how to hold your own at barely six years old; you’ve always been a fighter, baby brother, and the only thing I’m certain of is that you’re surviving out there in this cold, cruel world._

_I hope that, somehow, your Christmas went well. I hope that you have friends that you were able to weather the season with, and that you managed it better than I did. Right now, I feel like someone shooting me in the head would be a mercy, and Billy’s being an asshole by banging as many pots as possible while making us breakfast._

_I really have no idea why I love that man, but I do._

_I hope that, someday, I’ll get the chance to introduce you to the Billy Rocks that I know. I would love for you to meet the man that keeps me on the level, that you would probably argue with more than you ever did with me, and who would probably be able to keep up with you. God knows I can’t get him to agree with me on much of anything; the two of you could bond over how much you drive me crazy._

_Anyway, I’m going to close off this letter and go yell at him to make our eggs a bit more quietly. Maybe I’ll bribe him with coffee…_

_I remain your loving brother,_

_Goody_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [The PDF version of this journal/letter can be found here.](https://www.dropbox.com/s/n5kj3ifzz87ufet/December%2026%201876.pdf?dl=0)
> 
>  
> 
> As usual, Goody was twice as difficult as Joshua for this. I hunted for weeks trying to find a "proper" Victorian-era handwriting font, that included at least some of the special characters---or at least numbers! When I failed to find one that was _exactly_ what I wanted, I eventually found one that I could at least be happy-ish with.
> 
> So Joshua's handwriting remains [Saucy Jack](http://www.1001fonts.com/saucy-jack-font.html), while Goodnight's is [Chopin Script](http://www.dafont.com/chopin-script.font).


	4. November 15, 1877

_My brother T-Jo,_

_Right now, I don't know what to feel or to think. When I received your letter saying you were concerned over the weather and would be headed soon to Carson City, I thought that maybe… that maybe you missed the relationship we used to have. That you had the same regrets I do, that we could be brothers again._

_But that was before this past six weeks happened. Before Billy and I settled in to wait even as the weather grew colder and more bounty hunters slipped into town. That was before we got jumped two nights ago, by seven Billy Yanks who not only wanted my Billy’s bounty but also still ain't put the war behind them._

_I put down three of them. Sent them to meet their maker, despite how I feel about killing these days. I'm still shaking even as I write this, despite knowing that I got away and that Billy is still alive across the fire from me. And all I can do is wonder what happened._

_Was it even real? Do you miss being my brother, were you coerced into luring us to a trap in Carson City, was it your plan all along to get us there and split the bounty?_

_I am angry right now. I am sad right now. I am so lost right now that I don't know if I'll ever find my way back out again._

_But I've had a couple days now. What I want is for it to have been real. And I will just delude myself into thinking that until proved otherwise._

_I remain your loving brother,  
_ _Goody_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [The PDF version of this journal/letter can be found here.](https://www.dropbox.com/s/os1bpyo8i5ih71n/November%2015%201877.pdf?dl=0)
> 
> So yes, obviously this journal/letter is right after Carson City in the _Wicked Ones_ timeline, eighteen months before canon events. 
> 
> Joshua's handwriting remains [Saucy Jack](http://www.1001fonts.com/saucy-jack-font.html), while Goodnight's is [Chopin Scrip](http://www.dafont.com/chopin-script.font).


	5. July 12, 1879

_My dear brother T-Jo,_

_Over the years, I have thought more than a few times about how a meeting would go between us, should we cross paths again. I’ve always known that it would not be easy, given the words and blows that were exchanged, but I had some small measure of hope that we would be able to overcome it._

_Yet when we did meet up again, all the old hurts rose back to the surface, and all I could do was hide it beneath the anger that I felt on that day eight years gone._

_Perhaps all we can do anymore is hurt one another. And I hate that thought, because that means the old bastard won. He managed to twist anything that was still good in me and turn it into a reflection of himself._

_I hate mirrors now. Did you know that? All I see when I look into them is_ **_him,_ ** _and it drives me to drink more bourbon than I rightly should and smoke much more opium than is probably good for me. But it helps me to forget, for a few minutes at least, how much of my life is in ruins._

_I sometimes think all the good in me ran as far and as fast as possible the day you rode out for the last time on Wild Jack while I headed out on Shadow in the opposite direction._

_In a way, you’re luckier than I am. You have a means of distancing yourself from the old bastard’s name in the one your Ma gave you when you came into the world; I’m forever trapped as a Robicheaux because I was just too damned good at sniping folk in the war. The only thing I have is that reputation anymore and the hated name to go along with it. If it didn’t mean starting all over again at as old as I am, I’d either adopt Maman’s family name or take up Billy’s instead. No matter how stupid Goodnight Rocks sounds, it’d be better than the alternative._

_But again, too many years and too big of a reputation to just toss it aside. Damn it all, if I were still a young man, I’d do it in a heartbeat._

_Hell, T-Jo, you aren’t even a full hundred feet from where I’m sitting writing this, and all I can gather from you is how angry you still are over everything. Which makes this hurt all the more._

_I suppose what will happen now is, we do what that damn Yank has asked of us, and if God is merciful, He’ll either get us all through this alive or He’ll make sure I die quickly._

_And that was a lot more maudlin than I thought I would go with this. I shall simply stop there, and see if later I feel more comfortable with the situation. I love you dearly, little brother._

_Always,  
_ _Your Brother Goody_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [The PDF version of this journal/letter can be found here.](https://www.dropbox.com/s/imgfdrhlyt0k0cf/July%2012%201879.pdf?dl=0)
> 
>  
> 
> And lastly the journal/letter written outside Junction City. I am so sorry.
> 
> Joshua's handwriting remains [Saucy Jack](http://www.1001fonts.com/saucy-jack-font.html), while Goodnight's is [Chopin Scrip](http://www.dafont.com/chopin-script.font).


End file.
